Two dreams were the start of Joseph’s troubles.

“Hear this dream which I have dreamed,” Joseph told his 11 brothers. “There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when my sheaf stood upright and your sheaves bowed down to my sheaf.”

In Joseph’s second dream, the sun, the moon, and 11 stars had bowed to him.

The meanings of the dreams were obvious. Even his father, Jacob, who loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, took offense and rebuked him publicly.

Jacob may have forgiven Joseph, but Joseph’s brothers did not. When the opportunity presented itself, they sold Joseph as a slave to some foreign traders making their way to Egypt.

After many years as a trusted steward in the household of Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Joseph found himself unjustly locked away in the king’s dungeons. Potiphar’s wife had tried to seduce him, but when Joseph had consistently refused her advances, she had falsely accused him of trying to rape her. The Lord was with Joseph, though, and soon the keeper of the prison committed the daily running of the prison into Joseph’s hands.

More years passed before Joseph’s life was once again shaped by dreams.

For offenses not explained in the Bible, Pharaoh had his chief butler and chief baker cast into prison—the one over which Joseph was the de facto warden.

One night, the butler and baker both had strange dreams and woke troubled. Joseph asked why they were sad, and they told him, “We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it.”

And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me.”

Then the chief butler told his dream. “Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”

“This is the interpretation,” Joseph told the butler. “The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place of service.” Then Joseph added, “Remember me when it is well with you. Make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.”

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the butler’s dream was good, he told his own dream to Joseph. “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

The interpretation of the baker’s dream wasn’t good, so one can imagine Joseph’s inward struggle as he explained what God had shown him: “The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

Three days later, which happened to be Pharaoh’s birthday, the butler was restored to his butlership and the baker was hanged, exactly as Joseph had predicted according to his interpretations of their dreams. However, the butler quickly forgot about Joseph, who continued to languish in prison.

Two years later, Pharaoh had two dreams the same night. In the first, seven healthy cows were devoured by seven ugly, gaunt cows. In the second, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. Then seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up and devoured the seven full heads.

When Pharaoh awoke, he called for his magicians and wise men to interpret the dreams for him, but none of them could. Finally, the butler came forward and told Pharaoh about Joseph and his ability to interpret dreams. Pharaoh summoned Joseph from prison.
As Pharaoh related his dreams, the Lord showed Joseph that He was giving Pharaoh a glimpse into the region’s future. There would be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of severe famine. The Lord’s message to Pharaoh was that he should prepare for the years of famine by stockpiling provisions during the years of abundance.

Joseph’s counsel pleased Pharaoh, and he chose Joseph for the job of overseeing the collection and storage of the surpluses during the seven good years. He also elevated Joseph to second-in-command over all the land of Egypt.

But what about Joseph’s dreams of his brothers and parents paying homage to him?

A few years later when the famine reached Joseph’s native land of Canaan, Jacob sent Joseph’s older brothers to Egypt to buy grain, and they bowed before Pharaoh’s deputy, who unbeknownst to them was their younger brother. Joseph then concocted a complex scheme to find out whether they were repentant, and when he was convinced they were, he revealed himself to them.

As we read Joseph’s story in Genesis chapters 37 through 50, we can’t help but be struck by how his character was molded by his reversals of fortune. From spoiled boy to lowly slave, to trusted servant, to condemned man, and finally to Pharaoh’s right-hand man, each twist and turn conformed to the making of God’s man and the working of God’s plan. Perhaps Joseph summed it up best when, referring to his being sold into slavery, he told his repentant brothers, “God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

Pharaoh invited Jacob and all of his clan to move to Egypt, and gave them the fertile land of Goshen, where Jacob’s descendents prospered for the next 400 years. The pieces to another drama—that of Moses and the Exodus—were being put into place.

Ronan Keane is a full-time volunteer with the Family International.